WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. authorities arrested a Defense Department official who allegedly agreed to spy for Israel.

Stewart David Nozette, 52, of Maryland, allegedly told an FBI agent claiming to be an Israeli agent that he had access to U.S. satellite information and had once held top security clearances, news agencies reported on Monday.

Nothing in the complaint suggests that Israel's government was involved in the alleged crimes.

Nozette, who also worked for NASA, once designed "highly advanced" technology at the Energy Department, Bloomberg reported.

Nozette, arrested by FBI agents on Monday, will appear on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. on charges of attempted spying.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency stresses that these are "alleged crimes", "nothing [...] suggests that Israel's government was involved", etc. If Nozette had been passing on secrets to Mossad agents, the FBI would not have known unless they were intercepting the conversation. And as for evidence of Israeli government involvement, what do they expect the FBI to do - fit all Jews with microphones and cameras that blow up if they try to remove them, and bug the Knesset? Or send them to Madagascar? Any measure that would eliminate the problem of Israeli spying would be condemned as "anti-Semitic", "Nazi", etc.

The Israel apologists are trying to pin all the blame on the FBI:

The story is that in a sting operation, the FBI trapped Stewart David Nozette, a NASA employee with extensive knowledge of satellites and other space technologies, by convincing him they were the Mossad and were willing to pay him for his knowledge of classified data.

Nozette, apparently a brilliant scientist with the street smarts of a goldfish, fell for it hook, line and sinker. He let them record him, permitted them to leave him money in a PO box, answered their questionnaire with some classified information and even provided computer data. He thought he was working for the Mossad, but in reality, he was working for the FBI. Why did the FBI target him? Apparently he had a conversation a couple of months earlier with a co-worker where he claimed that were he in criminal trouble, he would escape to an unnamed foreign country or Israel by providing them with classified data. Oops.

And Jews even complain that Israel was named, rather than the euphemism "foreign nation".

So why did the media report this story as an Israel espionage story? Because the agent’s affidavit is a public document and this document, presumably seen by his superiors and by the legal staff at the FBI, blames and names Israel. “Nozette knowingly and willfully attempted to communicate, deliver and transmit to a foreign government, to wit the Government of the State of Israel…with intent and reason to believe that said documents and information would be used to the injury of the United States and to the advantage of a foreign nation, namely the Government of the State of Israel.”

Couldn’t they leave it at “foreign nation?” It could have been Zimbabwe or Sri Lanka. Why name Israel? And why say “advantage of a foreign nation?”

The Israel apologist said, "Apparently he had a conversation a couple of months earlier with a co-worker where he claimed that were he in criminal trouble, he would escape to an unnamed foreign country or Israel by providing them with classified data." Nozette is made out to be "a brilliant scientist with the street smarts of a goldfish", but the evidence shows that he isn't as innocent as Zionists would have us believe:

According to the affidavit, on Sept. 3, 2009, Nozette was contacted via telephone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but who was in fact an undercover employee of the FBI (UCE). During that call, Nozette agreed to meet with the UCE later that day at a hotel in Washington D.C. According to the affidavit, Nozette met with the UCE that day and discussed his willingness to work for Israeli intelligence.

Nozette allegedly informed the UCE that he had, in the past, held top security clearances and had access to U.S. satellite information. Nozette also allegedly said that he would be willing to answer questions about this information in exchange for money. The UCE explained to Nozette that the Israeli intelligence agency, or “Mossad,” would arrange for a communication system so that Nozette could pass information to the Mossad in a post office box. Nozette agreed to provide regular, continuing information to the UCE and asked for an Israeli passport

According to the affidavit, Nozette and the UCE met again on Sept. 4, 2009, in the same hotel. During the meeting, Nozette allegedly informed the UCE that, although he no longer had legal access to any classified information at a U.S. government facility, he could, nonetheless, recall the classified information to which he had been granted access, indicating that it was all still in his head. In the meeting, Nozette allegedly asked when he could expect to receive his first payment, specifying that he preferred to receive cash amounts “under ten thousand” so he didn’t have to report it. At the conclusion of this meeting, Nozette allegedly informed the UCE, “Well I should tell you my first need is that they should figure out how to pay me . . . they don’t expect me to do this for free.”

On or about Sept. 10, 2009, undercover FBI agents left a letter in the designated post office box for Nozette. In the letter, the FBI asked Nozette to answer a list of questions concerning U.S. satellite information. The undercover agents also provided a $2,000 cash payment for Nozette. The serial numbers of the bills were recorded. Nozette retrieved the questions and the money from the post office the same day.

On or about Sept. 16, 2009, Nozette was captured on videotape leaving a manila envelope in the designated post office box in the District of Columbia. The next day, FBI agents retrieved the sealed manila envelope that Nozette had dropped off and found, among other things, a one-page document containing answers to the questions posed by the undercover agents and an encrypted computer thumb drive. One of answers provided by Nozette contained information classified as Secret, which concerned capabilities of a prototype overhead collection system. In addition, Nozette allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems.

Also on or about Sept. 17, 2009, undercover FBI agents left a second letter in the post office box for Nozette. In the letter, the FBI asked Nozette to answer another list of questions concerning U.S. satellite information. The FBI also left a cash payment of $9,000 in the post office box. Nozette allegedly retrieved the questions and the money from the post office box later that same day.

On or about October 1, 2009, Nozette was filmed on videotape leaving a manila envelope in the post office box. Later that day, FBI agents retrieved the manila envelope left by Nozette and found a second set of answers from him. The answers contained information classified as both Top Secret and Secret that concerned U.S. satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy.